U W F 12 REPTILES BACK FROM THE BRINK by Samantha S Bell STORY LIBRARY
GIANT LIZARD OF LA GOMERA REDISCOVERED island of La Gomera off the coast of Morocco For more than 500 years the giant lizards of La Gomera were part of history Scientists only knew about them from studying fossils The lizards made history again in 1999 Six of them were discovered on the The large lizards move slowly Scientists believe cats and rats killed many of them People might IUCN RED LIST The International Union for the Conservation of Nature IUCN keeps a list of all threatened species in the world called the Red List Each species is labeled according to how at risk it is least concern Not considered at risk Near Threatened At risk of being vulnerable or endangered in the future Vulnerable At risk of extinction Endangered At high risk of extinction Critically Endangered At extremely high risk of extinction Extinct in the Wild Only lives in captivity Extinct No members of a species are left O
The giant lizards of La Gomera grow to be up to four feet 1 2 m long have hunted them too The lizards probably had a large habitat long ago But the six remaining lizards were found on just two rocky cliffs 500 Scientists caught the lizards Then they started a breeding program Number of years scientists thought these lizards were extinct More and more lizards were born each year In 2011 more than 260 lizards lived in captivity Scientists also removed the predators from the habitat They made plans to release Status Critically endangered Population More than 90 in the wild Home La Gomera Island Life Span Unknown some lizards back onto the
